The Way It Is
by Shekiah Rosay
Summary: Leah finally imprints and gets her happy ending in the form of the lonely half-vampire Nahuel. This is the story of how she meets him and realizes that she might not be in for an eternity of solitude and pain after all.


This is kind of a crack-pairing in the sense that you almost never see it and it's never even hinted at in the books. However - I think it's perfect. Too perfect. Clearly half-vampires and werewolves are compatible, and Leah needs somebody. She was the only one who never got her happy ending. So here it is - Leah x Nahuel. This story is kinda old - it surfaced on LJ in late 2008, and I feel like it circled the interwebs a few more times in a few other places. I was actually kind of surprised it wasn't on here, so I decided to remedy the situation. I don't own _twilight_. Enjoy! :D

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**_Leah's POV_**

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I circled the house, feeling painfully detached from all the excitement. Even Jacob stayed inside, leaving me out in the woods with only Seth for company. I was growing increasingly bored and very lonesome, but there was no way I'd leave my little brother alone with all the bloodsuckers hanging around. And Seth refused to leave the range of the alpha. Suck-up.

It was getting to me be too much.

_Seth, have you heard from Jacob?_

_No, he hasn't phased in a really long time. I guess he's with Renesmee._

Stupid baby.

I figured that maybe if I got a little closer to the house, I'd manage to catch his eye and let him know I'm waiting. Of course, Jacob had been pretty clear about the fact that he didn't plan on going home for any length of time, but any break from the Cullens and their friends would mean a lot to me. And after all, the heat had died down. There were still plenty of leeches hanging around. I couldn't help but smile smugly as I thought about the fact that even Jacob, for all his vamp-loving ways, was wary of these relative strangers. Still, I imagine he comforted himself the same way the rest of us did: at least _these_ bloodsuckers are now indebted to our pack and _had_ to be nice. Hmph.

As I set off towards the clearing where the giant white house sat, I heard Seth's voice hesitantly.

_I, uh, wouldn't get your hopes up about leaving with Jacob like you planned. He's not going to go far away from Renesmee anytime soon._

Figures. Damn it!

I didn't respond, but I knew that he'd hear that my thoughts were in agreement. It's true; Jacob thought of nothing else – at least when he was in his wolf form. Despite the fact that his mind-voice was silent when he went as a human (as he tended to with his precious bloodsuckers) I couldn't imagine him thinking of too much else. It was always Nessie this, Nessie that. Nessie looks so pretty in the new dress Grandma Esme got her. Nessie loves it when _I_ go hunting with her. Nessie, Nessie, Nessie.

It was enough to make somebody sick. And that somebody was me.

Of course, it didn't make the Cullens sick; they thought it was precious. Well, they did once they'd gotten used to the idea. Huh. Easy for them to think. They all had somebody. Bella and Edward had each other, and were still acting as disgustingly newly-wedded as ever even though they were parents. The fortune teller and the tall blonde boy were always talking quietly and holding hands. The jock and the stupid blonde were the worst; always making out in some corner or other. Though Carlisle and Esme weren't as prone as the teenagers to public displays of affection, the affection was obviously there.

It was like salt in a wound every time I walked through the door. Which is why I tried to avoid it as much as possible.

_Don't be like that, Leah. Your time will come._

_Shut the hell up, Seth._

Already in a bad mood, I didn't have time for my little brother's attempts at sympathy.

Suddenly, the vamp-stink hit my nostrils like a frying pan to the forehead. I could hear Seth snicker at my observation.

_Nice analogy, sis._

I didn't reply. Ugh. What happened to shutting up?

I hadn't realized how close I'd gotten to the house, but there it was, right in front of me. It was unmistakable; not only by how far out in the woods it was but by how many expensive, obviously fast cars were parked outside. Evidently, the vamps don't even rent crap cars when they're visiting friends. Living for a long time and not having to buy food or air conditioning tends to make people pretty rich. Unlike feeding a pack of wolves, which tends to make you poor as dirt. Especially if you were poor as dirt _prior _to the arrival of the wolves.

_Leah, c'mon. They're not all that bad. Give them a chance._

This argument in favor of the leeches was the last straw. Especially after I'd already told him once to shut up. It struck me then, I didn't really have to listen to him; I could always phase. And I was hungry, too. If I had to eat one more elk or other raw, dead thing, I would hurl. That was it. I was going back to humanity.

Stepping behind the trees even though nobody was around, I allowed myself to phase easily back into human form and pulled on the t-shirt and shorts I had with me. I impatiently raked my fingers through my hair, knowing it was a lost cause, but still trying to look a little bit pretty. If I could. I grabbed the lipgloss that lived in the pocket of my wolf-shorts and swiped it across my lips. I didn't think the color or gloss did much for me one way or the other, but the stickiness and the taste of raspberries reminded me that I was a woman, if nothing else. In my line of work, that kind of thing became surprisingly easy to forget.

Okay, time to go find Jacob. Or food. Whatever.

By the time I got back to the house, some of the vampires had departed. That made it a little bit easier. The sun was beginning to peek through the trees, so I didn't expect to see any of them outside, either.

I saw a face at the window, but it wasn't Jacob. It was Edward – stupid mind reader. He would have come to politely ask if I needed anything else, of course. But let him come. I didn't care.

"Hello, Leah," he greeted me a few seconds later, stepping casually onto the porch.

I shrugged back a little.

"I've come to find Jacob," I said, my voice sounding sharper than I meant. Edward looked as though he'd already known that (obviously).

"Of course. He's inside with Renesmee and the others. Please, come in. Unless it offends you, of course."

I had already been very rude, and it was like Jacob had told me earlier: you know things are bad when you start feeling guilty for being rude to vampires.

Apparently things were bad.

"Okay."

I wasn't sure why I was agreeing to this. The house smelled even ranker than it had the last time I'd been here. Yeah, evidently that was possible. For a second I was afraid somebody would be mean or treat me badly for all the things I'd said to Bella back while she was pregnant with the monster-baby, but once I thought about it I was sure they'd all be just a nice as Edward. Hmph. Like I even cared.

"Jacob and Seth were eating some pizza earlier. I think the delivery boy struggled to find our house," Edward joked. "But the leftovers are in the refrigerator. Help yourself if you're hungry."

Of course he knew I was hungry.

I scanned the living room, looking for Jacob. It looked like a college frat house in the wee hours of the morning – like tons of guests had been there and the activity was just dying down. Except, of course, there weren't a lot of empty beer cans and people passed out all over the place.

I heard Edward snicker –I was glad he appreciated my analogies as much as Seth did.

"Hey Leah – is that you?"

Finally, the voice I'd been waiting for.

"Yeah, hey Jacob," I said, trying to smile but actually grimacing awkwardly.

"You look nice," he said, clearly trying to be polite just because he knew I'd tried. Renesmee sat in the crook of Jacob's arm, playing with his ever-lengthening hair.

"Hi Leah," she said pleasantly. I smiled even more awkwardly, knowing that this genius kid probably knew as well as any of them how uncomfortable I was.

"How have you guys been?" I asked, mostly to break the silence.

"We're great!" Jacob exclaimed, forgetting (as usual) to be sensitive about my single-ness when he was around the object of his own imprinting. "Nessie got this _huge_ elk when we were hunting today. He didn't even know what hit him! Hey – do you wanna see? Nessie, show Leah your kill."

Renesmee started to stretch out her hand, but I shook my head and backed up.

"I'm really about ready to go, Jacob," I told him, trying to sound apologetic and probably failing. "Seth won't leave until you do, so I was wondering if you would want to head on…?"

"Well, I…" Jacob seemed as though the idea of leaving hadn't occurred to him yet. "I guess it'll be Nessie's bed time pretty soon anyway. Just give me a minute or two, and I'll be ready."

"Fine," I replied. Jacob went back to talking quietly to his Nessie, and I could hear her giggle. How could I be so jealous of a half-wit and a toddler?

Absorbed as I was in my thoughts, I would have thought that nothing apart from leaving and finding some food could have improved my mood. And even that would have been a stretch. It had been days since I'd gotten a warm shower and even longer since I'd had something normal, like a burger and fries. I felt gross, hungry, and extremely alone.

Not wanting to be surrounded by the smell of the sofa cushions, I leaned up against the wall and went back to my childhood game of people-watching. I had always tried to figure out what they were thinking, how they were feeling. It had always made me feel somehow powerful – like I knew something they didn't know I knew. If that makes any sense.

There were a couple of people talking in the corner. The nomad and the Alaskan girl I can never remember the name of. Ugh. They were bent over a map, pointing things out and laughing and telling stories. Ignoring the lump in my throat, I looked around for others.

There was Bella, who was deep in a conversation of some kind of philosophy with her father-in-law, Carlisle. Only vampires would talk philosophy after a party. I guess that's the kind of thing you do to kill time when you never sleep. Edward, having returned from welcoming me in, went back to refereeing the arm-wrestling match between Emmett and Jasper. I saw a few billfolds on the table – apparently Tanya and Eleazar were betting on the match. In the opposite corner, Alice was catching up with Esme and Rosalie. None of them were crying as much as I thought they should, but maybe vamps don't do that.

Finally, there was only one left. He sat at the kitchen table looking through magazines. I couldn't see his face from where I sitting, but I could tell it was the other half-breed from the clearing. Come to think, from where I'd stood in rank, I never really saw him then, either. He was a faceless guy whom I'd never really met in my entire life, but I suddenly felt a little bad for him, alone like that. Evidently his aunt had left without giving him time to meet anybody else to hang out with. Nice aunt.

Out of some kind of curiosity and my own weird pity, I decided to approach him. My gait was cautious as I walked around the table. He looked up suddenly, and I saw his eyes sparkle in the weird neon kitchen light.

Before I knew it, tears were running down my face.

The boy – Nahuel – stood silently and took my hands. His calloused palms didn't feel cold or warm, but they wrapped around mine completely. It felt like an embrace.

"You're the wolf-girl," he said softly, his eyes intense but somehow confused.

"And you're half-vampire," I replied, my voice cracking.

"Why am I so drawn to you?" he demanded, not releasing my hands. For a moment, I was worried that I had upset him.

"I think it's this stupid thing we do… us wolves, I mean. It's called imprinting. And I think I just did it to you."

Nahuel's eyes widened with fascination.

"You feel it too, then. This wonder, this awe… Why are you crying, wolf-girl?"

"It's Leah," I said, burying my head in his muscled shoulder. "And I'm just really, really happy."

He stroked my hair, and I could feel him quietly lift me up and move me to the couch. He didn't smell as bad as the others did; in fact, he really might not have smelled at all. I think the burn was just caught in my nose from spending so much time in the house.

The lightness in my stomach felt weird compared to the thickness in my throat. Ordinarily the combination would have nauseated me, but now it was exhilarating. Apart from those sensations, all I could feel were Nahuel's hands combing through my hair and his chest rise a falling as he breathed.

When I looked up from my awkward position in his lap, I noticed that the entire room had turned and was watching us. I blushed a little, squeezing Nahuel's hand more tightly.

"Leah…" Jacob said softly, his voice trailing off. His expression was one of incredulity, and his eyes looked like they might have been tearing up, too.

"Don't do that, Jake," I pleaded, laughing a little through my own tears. "This is crazy enough without you getting all weird and emotional too."

"What's happened?" Carlisle asked softly. Bella, in that high-pitched, impossibly-fast vamp-speak, explained the situation. I was certain that Jacob had told her all about the concept of imprinting even before she had seen it in action with her own daughter.

"What do I do now?" Nahuel asked me breathlessly.

"You stay with me forever," I replied quietly, my eyes locking with his. Leaning down, he kissed me softly on the lips.

"Forever, I think I can manage."


End file.
